Another GOP conservative who may run for the White House, Oliver North, said congressional Republicans have failed to adequately stand up to President Clinton.

The two conservatives set specific guideposts for their party two weeks before Congress reconvenes for what is sure to be a sharp debate with President Clinton over the course of government in a possible new age of balanced budgets.

"Instead of the shadow-boxing we did last summer, we should say to the Republicans, `Get real or get out,' " Forbes, referring to tax cuts, said on ABC's "This Week with Sam and Cokie."

"Unfortunately, if you just define yourself as trying to hold office, you lose the purpose of holding office," he said.

The magazine publisher, who made a strong bid for the GOP presidential nomination in 1996, also published on Sunday his "agenda" for 1998, a statement that strongly criticizes Clinton but also makes clear that the GOP-led Congress must do more to take policy initiatives.

Among his goals are overriding Clinton's veto of a bill banning a controversial late-term abortion procedure.